Mussila Music School

Teacher Overview

Mussila introduces children to and teaches them about the creation of music. It is available for free and yet it is fully featured, educational, and superbly made. In-app purchases allow the app to be expanded further.

Teacher Review

It is pleasing to see any app undergo continual development. When it is already a great one it is especially so. It means that more new customers will get to experience it, existing ones get even better value for money, and that the developer's diligence and hard work is paying off. Mussila is such an app - not resting on its laurels of already having a 5-star review at the Educational App Store but pushing on to become even better. This review covers the latest version of Mussila.

Mussila maintains its focus on musical education and still wraps it all up in a beautifully presented app full of vibrant colour, fun animations, and, essential for a music app, clear and varied sounds.

The main game, familiar to existing users is Magical Island. Here, the players learn about rhythm, instruments, musical notes, and melody through a variety of exercises that teach as children play. This is a trial-and-error approach and it is effective. Hearing the selected answer not match the playing sound shows the player what to do next time and helps with building the correct associations.

Each of the levels is scored using three stars. Scoring one means that the player must repeat the level, scoring two means that the player can move on, three shows that they completed the level perfectly. It works very well as children can move past a sticking point but still return, to aim for perfection.

One change that cost-conscious parents and teachers might spot with the app is that once it was entirely free but now it has in-app purchases. The good news is that all of the very substantial content that was once free is still there in the no-cost download. This is as full as many many paid-for apps and it stands alone very well without leaving the experience feeling truncated. The extra content is made up of new levels that add huge amounts more to the app, both in the learning that they offer and in the content and play style.

There is an option to become a DJ and spin some discs. There are many built-in sounds and beats to use, but a really nice facility is the option to record your own sounds to add to the array on offer. It sounds really good and it provides excellent experimental fun.

The Magical Forest-keyboard is another practice option that also adds an extra dimension to the Magical Island activities. In its own right, it challenges children to play a song's melody on a keyboard - all guided by the app's characters. In Magical Island it offers extra features to the challenges. As with all on-screen musical keyboards there is a fine balance that it has to tread in making the keys large enough to tap but small enough to allow plenty to fit on the screen. On a 9.7" iPad, it worked well, even for adult fingers. On a phone, it might be less easy to use. Remember that the target users are young children for whom smaller keys are not such an issue.

Other levels can also be added such as Mussila Planets, which is more game-like, and Mussila Jam Session, which allows for a bit of creative input in the arrangement of the instruments as well as playing the drums along to them.

Parents and teachers are often lacking in specific musical experience and children can lose out through this. Exposure to ideas and sounds in music at a young age might inspire future musicians but early technical exposure can be hard to come by for children taught by non-specialists. Mussila does a great job of introducing the craft behind the music to young children. The main app offers a great experience and the in-app purchases build up the package into a well-rounded learning app.

Screenshots

Developer Description

Welcome to the wonderful world of Mussila, an adventure full of music, monsters and exciting challenges.

Mussila is designed to teach kids the principles of music in a fun game. Research shows a significant difference in the understanding of music between groups that have used Mussila and those who have not.

Various research has shown early life music education to be a real brain-booster, even if given in small doses.

Mussila is a music game for children in which they learn the basics in music - no experience required!

Join the Mussila band on their musical journey to help them find their lost instruments and costumes. Based on a musical curriculum Mussila is a fun and creative game that gives kids the basic skills and instruments to play and create their own music.

Travel with the Mussila band and participate in jam sessions with musical monsters, taking place on mountainsides surrounded by mystical creatures. The player progresses through skill building levels, by recognising different instruments and defining rhythms and melodies.

Mussila is based on a thoroughly planned curriculum, made to encourage the child’s self esteem through accomplished and fun play. It is a zero violence and gender neutral adventure in which your child learns musical understanding they can build on for life.

Features:

Participate in interactive jam sessions
Customise the Mussila band
Play piano notes
Define rhythms and melodies by ear
Earn new instruments and outfits
Gender neutral
Zero Violence
Simple interface
No in app purchases
No Ads
Engaging skill building levels

About us

The developer Rosamosi was founded by Margrét Juliana Sigurdardottir, a DipRAM postgraduate from the Royal Academy of Music in London, and computer engineer Hilmar Thor Birgisson. With grants from The Icelandic Technology Fund and Nordic Game Institute, they took off with a talented team of friends and colleagues in early 2015. Based in Iceland, many traits of their Nordic home-country can be found in the scenes of Mussila; volcanoes, lava and glacial rivers that all play a part in the drama and fun. Rosamosi believes in music making being part of our everyday lives and that music education should be available for everyone.

Rosamosi is a part of Kids App Collective, a unique group of award winning app developers from across the globe.